Search - Blanket Music :: Cultural Norms

What would the Great American Album of our time sound like? However unlikely, the sleeper Portland quartet Blanket Music has crafted its nomination?and they have come into their own with this third studio album. Recorded with Adam Selzer (The Decemberists, M. Ward) at Portland's Type Foundry Studio, Cultural Norms is an organic, eclectic mix of Motown pop, Memphis blues, northern soul/funk and chamber pop. The obvious modern day touchstone would be Belle & Sebastian, but as with Move and Nice, Blanket Music distinguish themselves with a penchant for reinventing themselves with each album and infusing their songs with genre-bending verve. Here, Chad Crouch confronts contemporary hot topics with an eye for detail, charming wit and multidimensional character-driven narratives. Topically alighting on reality television, gay marriage, Picasso's Guernica, the Iraq war, the digital music revolution and dollar stores, Cultural Norms serves up a toe-tapping, unvarnished portrait of contemporary American values. Each song contributes idiomatically to a refreshingly modern mix thanks to the tight, dynamic rhythm section of Dave Depper (bass) and Greg Lind (drums). Michael Johnson (Reclinerland) contributes clean, melodic Rhodes piano lines and joins with Depper for some vocal harmonies. Bolstered with a four-piece horn section, flute, tasteful string & woodwind arrangements, and guest appearances from The Decemberists' Chris Funk on square-neck guitar and Jenny Conlee on accordion, Cultural Norms is an appealing, out-of-the-blue reveille for the indie set.